The Year’s Greatest Typo [by David Lehman]

In Peter Carson's fine new translation of Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych" (published by Liveright, together with Tolstoy's "Confession." in a single handsome volume), the eponymous hero writes, "I fell I'm fifteen years younger." You'll find this admirable typo on page 55, the very page on which he "missed his footing and fell" off a step-ladder, but the pain soon disappears, and Ivan Ilych congratulates himself on feeling "particularly well and cheerful." In fact, Ivan writes — in his diary? or in a letter? — "I feel I'm fifteen years younger," only here it comes out "I fell I'm fifteen years younger," as if a typo could inadvertently summarize the twists of the plot, for that fall off the step-ladder leads to his decline and death — DL